Azeem Rafiq documentary to go behind the scenes of cricketer's racism nightmare
Azeem Rafiq is in talks to make a documentary detailing his nightmare since reporting racism in cricket.
Five years on from first coming forward at Yorkshire, the former spin-bowler, 32, has had his life torn apart by critics determined to discredit his claims and thugs attempting to intimidate him. He and his family have been abused to such an extent that he has had a security detail for the past two years while his father Mohammed and other family members have seen their health deteriorate significantly.
But Rafiq, who grieved his stillborn son in 2018, has refused to be cowed by the intimidation. He also believes there are dozens more like him suffering in silence. "The documentary is something that was proposed to me some time ago,” he told The Mirror . “I was initially hesitant but I feel it is important for people to know what actually went on behind the scenes.
“People think they know it all but a lot went on to try and stifle my voice, to try and get at people who supported me and to make their lives difficult. The one thing I've always said to myself is that, no matter what they do to me, it can't take me close to what I felt when I carried my son from the hospital to the graveyard. No experience can ever come close to that. I’m not one that can be scared.”
Rafiq has been approached by eight production companies over the past 18 months. He is now in discussions with one independent company in particular over how to detail his harrowing story. Yorkshire County Cricket Club was fined £400,000 in July and given a 48-point deduction in this year’s County Championship by the ECB as a result of the allegation of racism and discrimination at the club over a 17-year period.
Ex-England stars pull out of Rafiq racism inquiry and slam "failed" ECB process
Azeem Rafiq speaks to the Mirror about his storyThe punishment was handed out six years after Rafiq first came forward to complain to Yorkshire over racism and bullying. Earlier this year, Yorkshire revealed “emails and documents, both held electronically by the club and in paper copy, had been irretrievably deleted from both servers and laptops and otherwise destroyed.” Rafiq believes they contained correspondence that would have corroborated his claims.
He also believes July’s report from the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket - in which half the 4,000 respondents revealed they’d experienced discrimination in the past five years - has given the sport the “opportunity of a lifetime” to clean up its act. Cindy Butts, chair of the commission, followed up with a strongly-worded open letter in which she made clear many significant figures rejected invitations to engage.
Azeem Rafiq speaks to Mirror's Darren LewisRafiq went on: “I want to thank the commission and Cindy because I've seen so many people get into roles like that and find enough language to undermine and downplay the reality. But the straightforward nature of the language used in the report has given Cricket the opportunity of a lifetime. Now it's for cricket to decide whether it wants to take that.
“Nearly 87 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people have been discriminated against while being involved in cricket. Eighty-two percent of Indian people have had it and over 75 per cent of black people. These are big, big, big numbers. Everyone with a platform has a responsibility - and yet it feels at times as though people don’t want to deal with this uncomfortable situation. But, quite frankly, things are not changing and they need to.”
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